


House/Home/Family

by mercuryhatter



Category: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Genre: Fluff, Other, clientage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-20 01:38:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8231636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercuryhatter/pseuds/mercuryhatter
Summary: Breq never asked for the Mianaai name.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I should have been sleeping when this was written, but you see, gay insomnia, or gaysomnia,

Seivarden had something she wanted to say, had been holding it back for days. They had lived and worked together for twenty years now– Breq knew almost every one of Seivarden’s moods, and this one was decidedly shifty. Breq also knew that, if not interfered with, this could go on for weeks. So, over morning tea, four days after noticing the mood, she interfered.

  
“You have something to say,” she said, neutral but firm. Seivarden choked a little on her tea, but stifled it, swallowing with difficulty.

  
“No,” she said, with the inflection of a question, then, five seconds after the attempted denial: “yes.”

  
“Well?”

  
Seivarden huffed a sigh, staring determinedly into her tea.

  
“It’s just that- well, technically- look, I know the republic doesn’t even have houses the way we- I used to, but if we were to visit the Radch today.” Seivarden took a deep breath and continued. “You would still be a Mianaai.” 

Breq frowned infinitesimally, but did not speak. Seivarden kept going, sounding more embarrassed by the minute.

  
“It’s not as if we will visit any time soon, and I know it doesn’t really matter to you or you would have done something by now. But– well, it was fucking shitty of her to have stuck you with that name in the first place, without even asking! As if you’d ever have wanted it if she asked. Which I’m sure is why she didn’t.”

  
“Seivarden,” Breq said finally, sounding stiffly amused, “are you offering me clientage?”

  
“No!” Seivarden said hastily, setting down her bowl with a thump. “I mean, not like that. I would never- not to you. You’re… above that sort of thing.” She sounded as if she knew exactly how silly that sounded, but she couldn’t find a better way to phrase it. It wasn’t only that Breq outranked her, though that was part of it. It certainly wasn’t that Breq had been an ancillary, that wasn’t it at all. But Seivarden offering Breq her clientage in the traditional way was as unthinkable to her now as it would have been if Seivarden had still been her servant.

  
Seivarden shook her head, reaching suddenly across the table to plant her hand over Breq’s, more to steady herself than for Breq’s benefit.

  
“I don’t know why you’re making me suffer through this when you probably figured out what I wanted to say three days ago,” she muttered. “I’m not offering you clientage, Breq, that would be ridiculous. I don’t have anything to offer. I don’t even have a house that you could join! But you… well, I probably feel more strongly for you than I ever did for anyone in Vendaai, or anyone I might have considered taking as my client when it still existed. And I do still have this name. It’s not attached to anyone but me anymore, but it’s also certainly not attached to Mianaai. So, if you want it, then I want you to have it.” It wouldn’t be a house, not really. It would be something much smaller, something of no political or even practical use whatsoever. But also, Seivarden thought, free of all those uses, it might also be something closer, and she wanted that. She watched Breq’s face anxiously for seconds that dragged painfully on, and finally went to take her hand away when Breq’s turned over and her fingers closed on Seivarden’s wrist. Seivarden froze, far more hopeful and far more nervous than she had thought she would be, if it ever came to this.

  
“I want it,” Breq said, sounding almost thoughtful. It took Seivarden several seconds to hear and comprehend the words, during which she stayed frozen, but as soon as she did, she beamed. She let out a shaky laugh as Breq released her wrist, slumping back into her chair and hiding her face under one hand until she could get her expression under control.

  
“All right then,” she said, with some modicum of composure. It was almost impossible to maintain, and as she picked up her bowl of tea she found herself beaming into it all over again. “All right.”


End file.
